2 dead, five injured in rail car tanker explosion
ELMENDORF, Texas – Two people were killed when a rail car tanker caught fire and exploded Friday afternoon at the Alamo Junction Rail Park outside of Elmendorf.
A crew at CRU Railcar Services was cleaning the residual crude oil from the tanker at the time of the explosion. Gary Garza, 39, was inside the tanker when it exploded. Garza and Roger Noriega, 42, were killed in the explosion.
Noriego was air-lifted to Brooks Army Medical Center with severe burns and a cable impaled into his side. He died Monday night at the hospital.
Four other workers were transported to SAMMC with burns.
Chief Robert Hogan with Emergency Services District 10 says the explosion happened just before 1 pm.
By the time emergency crews arrived, about six minutes after the initial call, Hogan says the fire had almost extinguished on its own.
“The police called me and they say something exploded. I came and they aren’t letting me see my son. I know nothing about what happened or how they are,” said Garza's mother at the scene.
No word yet on the identities of the other workers.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration is on the scene conducting an investigation.
